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Trudeau’s broken promise on voter suppression heading to court

March 23, 2018

Media Advisory

Despite a clear election promise to repeal undemocratic provisions in the so-called “Fair” Elections Act, the Trudeau government has failed to follow through. As a result, the Charter Challenge by the Canadian Federation of Students and the Council of Canadians, which seeks to remove those provisions will be heard this October, so it can be acted on before the October 2019 federal election.

WHAT: Press conference on the constitutional challenge and what happens next.

WHO: Representatives of the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Federation of Students.

WHEN: 10am, Monday, March 26, 2018.

WHERE: Charles Lynch Room, Centre Block, Parliament Hill, Ottawa.

While the Trudeau government introduced Bill C-33 to repeal the controversial provisions in the act that are the focus of this legal challenge, the legislation has been stalled since November, 2016.

The government’s responding evidence is to be filed by March 30, 2018, and the plaintiffs are very worried that it will seek to defend the very provisions of the act it has promised repeatedly to remove.

The legal challenge seeks to overturn provisions of the Fair Elections Act that restricted voting rights, including prohibiting the authority of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to authorize the use of the Voter Information Card as valid ID for voting, and limiting the CEO’s authority to carry out voter education and outreach.

The application also seeks to remove provisions that virtually eliminate vouching, and that weaken the independence of the Commissioner of Canada Elections who must enforce the act.

Background on the Charter Challenge, which was filed by the Council of Canadians, the Canadian Federation of Students, and individual electors, is available here: https://canadians.org/charter-challenge.